I wanna go home

Keneda

Here is a new home to experiment, thanks to Pavel Prosto.
https://open-store.io/app/uhome.pavelprosto

kingu

When these "modern" OS-es start, the clean desktop is shown,
meaning the user knows it is there, and for some reason the starting state is off limits if there is one or more programs open.

elementaryOS also does this.
Even the keyboard shortcut to show the desktop is removed.
The section isn't even there anymore.

Would be interesting to see what kind of problems people think they are solving by implementing this.

It is 100% against convention of anyone touching a computer or device the last 30 years.
The upside seems to be not accidentally minimizing something you are working on.

It is also not how the system the user is familiar with and is using has functioned in the past. For my own sake I will say this makes me think of something I know I can use, into something where I think I can't figure it out and no change was needed.
And no, it just isn't possible anymore. No explanation.

The mind compartmentalizes information in structural hierarchies, and the spatial awareness to keep track of this is something you can do with cognition, but the ability to look at a clean slate actually has function.
It is the closest thing you get to seeing where your files are by default.

Yes, that place someone decided no files are to be shown,
before they decided file hierarchy is something the user shouldn't do.

There is a serenity to having just a clean slate to go back to.
It is as familiar, and not having what you are doing visible on the screen is useful.

It also has the benefit of vested interest and familiarity in that the user often changes the desktop. Thus making it their machine.

ChromiumOS-Guy

@UniSuperBox i know this is super old, but will a double tap on the ubuntu logo not suffice for going to background? its an action that exists both on desktop and mobile.

i do agree that even in 2026 the background doesn't have anything useful rn.

sixwheeledbeast

@ChromiumOS-Guy I think this is a good idea. I currently have showdesktop pinned to the menu bar. It being part of the OS would be great.
I'm open to it being some other action aswell tho. I was thinking a full swipe from left to right while the app menu was open, so the opposite to opening the taskswitcher?
Having used OS's both mobile and desktop that allow to go to the desktop, Ubuntu Touch feels very odd without it.

ChromiumOS-Guy

@sixwheeledbeast a swipe from left to right opens the drawer, so i dont think making an action similar to it good (it also is the current action that happens when you do that) lomiri already has a lot of swipes, you swipe to go to drawer you swipe to close apps you swipe to switch to the app that you've used last (besides active app) and you swipe for the indicators.

thats why i think double tap on logo is good, you're not likely to do it by accident, tapping the logo while drawer is open already closes it, and this action in desktop mode should just toggle minimize to all windows.

either way this action cannot be a gesture because all direction are saturated with one or more gestures adding more we will be asking the user to be precise with finger movements, this means training muscle memory and paying attention. and that is a finite resource before the user snaps and quits on you this resource should be spent only when necessary.

projectmoon

Putting some widgets on the desktop would be cool. Even more cool if they are editable. Something similar to the ut launcher app, but simpler, would enhance the user experience, I think.

ChromiumOS-Guy

@projectmoon was thinking the same.

nbdynl

a swipe up in the switcher works smooth and efficient for me using ambot.

projectmoon

@nbdynl I use Ambot as well.

sixwheeledbeast

@nbdynl That sounds great.
Does it also work with no apps open tho?
Is this a MariKit or Lomiri Plus option?